1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to mounting apparatuses, and particularly to a mounting apparatus which readily allows securely installing or removing a data storage device to or from a computer enclosure.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally speaking, when a computer is assembled, a drive bracket is mounted in a computer enclosure, and then data storage devices are fixed to the drive bracket. The data storage devices comprise various combinations of hard disk drives (HDDs), floppy disk drives (FDDs), and compact disk-read only memory (CD-ROM) drives.
Conventionally, a data storage device is attached to a drive bracket of a computer by bolts. The data storage device may, for example, be a hard disk drive, a floppy disk drive, or a CD-ROM drive. However, attachment by bolts is complicated and time-consuming. Furthermore, attachment by such means requires extra work space be available inside the computer enclosure. This requirement runs counter to the trend toward miniaturization in the computer industry.
To overcome the above problems, rails have been developed to mount a data storage device to a computer enclosure. Such rails are disclosed in Taiwan Patent Application No. 82202204 and a U.S. Pat. No. 5,332,306. Two such rails are attached to respective opposite sides of a data storage device. This assembly is then slidably inserted into the computer enclosure. However, the rails may easily fall off when installing or uninstalling the data storage device.
What is desired, therefore, is a mounting apparatus which readily allows securely installing or removing a data storage device to or from a computer enclosure.